We welcomed Xander A’rīon to the world on August 16th at 7:24pm, and had a complete unmedicated birth with the help of my wonderful husband and Doula, Amara, and Nell from the midwifery center the team of labor and delivery. The morning of, my water was broken a little to the point I needed to go in and get checked. I was so excited that today might be the day I officially meet my baby that I’ve been literally carrying for months. Jay made me some breakfast while I took a shower to get ready to head to the hospital. As we were driving to the midwifery center at de Paul’s, we both felt like ‘omg’ this is

actually going to happen, but we will see how far dilated I am.

We are in the room ready to be check to see how far I am in the processes, but during my check a gush of water came out as well as meconium “baby poop” which wasn’t the best sign. At first I wasn’t to worried because I experienced the same issue when I was pregnant with Erik, my first born, but I got rushed over to labor and delivery to have me and baby Xander continuously monitored. As I am waiting to make progress with my labor I was told if I don’t make progress soon that they would start me on pitocin; I definitely didn’t want to have any drugs or hormones to be a part of my labor, so I contacted my Doula, Amara. I updated her on my progress and she gave me some recommendations to hopefully get my labor to progress soon. At this time it’s 1ish and I’ve been in the hospital since 10am, so it was important that I started labor because my water had already broke. To try and activate labor naturally they brought me a breast pump to start stimulating for 10 minutes, but when it started Xander’s heart rate dropped dramatically for 8 minutes, which was really scary. The nurses and my midwife, Nell, rushed in to check me and gave me oxygen then had me lay on my side to help the baby de-stress. I was scared because of the fact that if Xander couldn’t handle the birth process I would end up needing a C-Section. I started to internally freak out because I wanted to make sure Xander was safe and I definitely didn’t want to have a C-Section. I started calling and texting my support of ladies asking them for prayers and loving energy. I got to chat with one of my beautiful friends Natalie Vail, who is also a Doula and Acupuncturist in San Diego, and ask her if she could do a spiritual energy clearing in my labor/ delivery room since I wasn’t able to clear the energy in the space. Over the phone I closed my eyes as she welcomed all the angels, God, spirit and all that is of high vibrations to protect me and Xander and to clear any lower energy. The prayer completely shifted the space.It felt so good I got chills and I could see baby Xander and I were surrounded by white light and angels. She also gave me a meditation to relax me, as well as, some Acupressure points to help during labor. Jay was chatting with my other warrior powerhouse women for support while Vivianne and Tanya both were holding space for me and help me to relax and to calm myself. Vivianne gave me this amazing meditation called The needle meditation:

In which you ask God for protection and you Imagine shrinking yourself to the size of the top of a pin. Connecting with baby and having a conversation to let them know all is well and safe.. Of course their is more detail to this mediation that made it very powerful for me…

Once I did this meditation I was connected with Xander and my contractions started and right in time for my Doula Amara to arrive. I felt so proud of myself and baby Xander for how we were handling the contractions. Jay was truly amazing, guiding me into different labor positions and squeezing my hips to release pressure. He was so amazing and such a rock for me during each contractions; supporting me, loving me, and working with Amara to bring Xander further into the birth canal. Around 6 PM my contractions started to get more intense, my body started to shake uncontrollably and at times the pain was so intense I wanted to cry but I knew I could do it. Amara had me go in the shower to let the scalding hot water hit my back to get some relief, and of course Jay was in there with me in his speedo. I will say that the water was sooooooo hot but it felt so good on my back. I was in the shower for a good 30 to 45 min and I started feeling like I am going to want to push soon. Amara told Nell that the baby might be coming soon and they found me sitting on the toilet having a contractions. One of the nurses said to me, “don’t push, you can’t push yet,” I yelled back, “I can push if I want to!” Haha

At this point I was delirious from exhaustion, my body was shaking and all I wanted to do was sleep and watch my Spanish show, “La Fea Mas Bella.” I was so done. I wobbled to the bed and I cried out “I don’t want to do this anymore.” Amara was so loving and encouraging she had me do some other labor positions to bring the baby further down, I was not fully present at this point. They had my labor ball on the bed as I was leaning over it during the labor and contractions. I was so exhausted I fell asleep twice. When I took a birthing class with Birth Insight they said some women fall asleep during active labor, which I thought was crazy. How could that happen? Well, it happened to me… twice. Then the urge to push started, the nurses and Nell were ready for me to start. I was on my hands and knees when I started pushing. It turns out, the way you deal with contractions and how you deal with pushing or two different sensations. Even though I know that logically putting it into action I completely forgot, I was too busy thinking of when I can go to sleep. I was told I needed to shift position to get Xander to come out Amara and hubby help me get on my side because I was just shaking uncontrollably then I was ask to lay on my back poof. And with one big push poof Xander came out. All I could say was my baby my baby, Jay was so happy to see our little man and I was too worn out to cry but I did cry on the inside for how happy I was.

This unmedicated birth journey was truly an amazing experience, I felt powerful, accomplished and felt a deep connection with Xander. It reminded me the journey of life and the ups and downs we experience but at the end of all the pain and perseverance we come out stronger and more connected with who we are. Yey!! We did this birth journey together Xander with the help of daddy, Amara my Doula, Nell my midwife and the amazing staff at De Paul’s.

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Thank you for sharing your beautiful journey with us.
So much faith and strength you had to stick to your beliefs during a time where it’s so easy to ask for medications.
The feeling of empowerment must have been so overwhelming and beautiful!
God bless you all
hugs and love,
Linda xo

I must say, as your husband it was an interesting and aspiring event. Watching you power through this showed, yet again, how powerful you are and how blessed I am to be with you. Xander will love you forever.